fertility

How Does Acupuncture Work for Fertility?

Increase Chance of Conception Without Side Effects

Acupuncture and herbs help the body to become balanced and healthy. There are many studies that show great success when using acupuncture in combination with medical fertility treatments and on it’s own.

When deciding to try acupuncture and/or herbal medicine you should be ready to commit to a health plan. You can not just receive one treatment and bam! that’s it. It will take a series of sessions to have an affect.

Traditional Chinese Medicine describes the female reproductive system as a network of energy systems. Each energy system has complementary organs and hormonal responses. This network responds to stress, chemicals, lack of exercise, poor diet and excess emotions all of which can put the body ‘out of balance’. A TCM practitioner will carefully determine the state of your imbalances and prescribe an individualized program of herbs, acupuncture and diet to help you create the correct environment for fertility and pregnancy.

Listed below are all the ways acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine, either alone or in combination, can help increase fertility and your chances of conception.

Stress Reduction

Psychological stress can have a negative effect on couples facing fertility problems. Stress leads to the release of stress hormones and causes detrimental effects on mechanisms responsible for a normal ovulatory menstrual cycle. The success of acupuncture and herbs for reducing stress and anxiety is due to its beta-endorphin release and sympathetic calming effects. Stress causes the sympathetic nervous system of be over stimulated. Thus, the blood flow is diverted away from the ovaries and uterus to the adrenals (stress coping gland) instead. This can cause irregular cycles, lack of ovulation, and infertility. Acupuncture and herbs can redirect the blood flow back to the ovaries and uterus, enhancing fertility and regulating your cycle.

Acupuncture Strengthens The Immune System

Many women with immunological factors hostile to pregnancy have been effectively treated with TCM prescription of diet, herbs, and acupuncture. When an acupuncturist treats the root problem, the immunological markers correct themselves.

Fertility Hormone Regulation

Acupuncture has been known to control pain through stimulating the release of beta-endorphin. In addition, beta-endorphin works to influence the source of women’s ovulatory and fertility hormones (the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis) and control hormones that regulate a women’s ovulation and fertility that includes gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH), follicle stimulating hormone (F.S.H.), luteinizing hormone (L.H.) and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG).

Regulates Hormones Creating Better Egg Quality

Acupuncture and herbs normalizes the dysfunction of the Hypothalamus- Pituitary – Ovarian Axis. This improves ovarian function creating more follicles, and better egg production. It has also been suggested that the concentrations of central opioids may regulate the function of the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis via the central sympathetic system, and that a hyperactive sympathetic system in anovulatory patients could be normalized by ElectroAcupuncture. It has been assumed that various disorders in the autonomic nervous system, such as hormonal disturbances, may be normalized during auricular acupuncture

Acupuncture Lessens Side Effects From Clomid

Clomid often causes the uterine lining to thin, which is detrimental to becoming pregnant. Acupuncture causes the uterine lining to thicken and become more uniform. This is a result of increased blood flow to the uterine arteries.

Each individual case is special and different and will be treated that way. A consult is always recommended to best decide what plan of action needs to be taken in order to best treat you. Karen Alladin Gittli, acupuncturist and herbalist, is highly trained, educated, and loves specializing in each case to help with infertility (men and women). All our acupuncturist have advanced training in the field of fertility and specialize in this, in acupuncture and traditional herbal medicine.